Category Archives: Knit

OFFF 2011, Saturday

Posted on September 26, 2011 | 6 comments

September is my favorite month. Birthday, anniversary, back to school, Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival!

I helped Lorajean set up her booth for Knitted Wit on Friday. She has new display walls and they look great! Her new fall color line looks great, too; I’m especially fond of the deep plummy aubergine. I don’t know if that’s the real color name, but I love the color. You can see it on the front of the rack she’s standing by.

I saw my friend Sarah; she was plying a yarn sample that she had just drop spindled.

And met up with my friend Sonia, who had just picked up a pile of goodies for Stash. This is the new shop that she’s opening in Corvallis, Oregon in mid-October. She’ll be featuring fine yarn, fiber, and artisans from the Pacific Northwest. I’m so excited for her!

I did a demo on how to purl back backwards without turning your work at the PDXKnitbloggers’ spot on the lawn. It’s so easy; you just have to dive in and try it. This is a great technique for knitting entrelac, and you know that I do love entrelac!

Saturday evening there was a reception sponsored by Carolina Homespun for the authors and contributors of four new books from local authors: Created in Oregon, Beyond Toes, My Grandmother’s Knitting, and Jazz Knitting. It was a wonderful get-together; thanks to Morgaine for the party!

Check out the peacocks on Jazz Knitting’s author Ilisha Helfman!

Pat came to show me her Zen Rain shawlette. Lovely! And check out the ruffles on ruffles on me. Can one ever have too many? I think not! I’m wearing my new linen ruffle tank, which I finished at 3 a.m. so I could wear it to OFFF. Crazy, yes, but I love it. More on that in another post.

I met the other Machelle from Created in Oregon. She has a beautiful sock pattern in the datebook. Neither of us spells our name in the conventional Michelle way.

Machelle and Michele!

This post is getting pretty long! I’ll tell you about Sunday in the next post. Did you go to OFFF on Saturday? It was definitely the better weather day!

6 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Created in Oregon, OFFF

Sneak peek! This Little Ziggy…

Posted on September 23, 2011 | 5 comments

is going to market…the market at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. Come by the Knitted Wit booth (I think we’re on the lawn) and see the Ziggy vests in person! Pattern will be there, too, hot off the press. More details on the pattern later…

Thanks to Lorajean’s li’l guys for modeling!

Bye; see you at OFFF!

5 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, This Little Ziggy

Created in Oregon, and OFFF

Posted on September 21, 2011 | 7 comments

Last year, Deb Accuardi of Pico Accuardi Dyeworks asked me if I’d like to design a pattern for her new calendar project. Yes, of course! The datebook was to feature 12 patterns in Pico Accuardi Dyeworks yarns, and 12 areas in Oregon. I asked for blue yarn and the Oregon Coast for my project, which is the Rockaway 2-Way Beach Beanie/Cowl (Ravelry link). It’s the August pattern in the datebook, Created in Oregon: A Knitter’s Datebook 2012.

Other contributors include Leigh Radford, Sivia Harding, Kristin Spurkland, Judy Becker, Larissa Brown, Shannon Squire and Emily Williams. The datebook is now available from Pico Accuardi Dyeworks, and through several yarn stores in the Portland area. I know Twisted and Urban Fiber Arts has them. They’ll also be available at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival this weekend in the Carolina Homespun booth, along with yarn kits for the calendar projects. You can get your datebook signed by Deb from 3-5 at the Carolina Homespun booth, and for even more fun, there’s a reception with authors and contributors for this book and several other new knitting books from Oregon authors on the lawn at 5 p.m. I’ll be there, and hope to see you then.

Here’s the backstory on my design. I go to Rockaway, Oregon at the coast every year with a group of friends for Crafty Moms weekend. There’s nothing like a sea breeze and a perfect view to clear the mind and inspire creativity!

Hat shown in Pico Accuardi Dyeworks Worsted, Rodgie’s Midnight Dancing on the left; cowl shown in Dream in Color Classy, Deep Seaflower Blue on the right.

The lacy pattern at the top and bottom edges creates a scalloped edge reminiscent of the Pacific Ocean’s waves. The elongated lattice pattern at the center makes the most of the hand-dyed yarn’s variegated loveliness. At the coast, you never know if you’ll need a little warmth or a lot, so this piece can be worn as a hat, or as a cowl.

Please excuse my semi-stern look; the sun was very bright on this February day. Many thanks to Laurie Nelesen for taking my picture; I can’t be the model and the photographer at the same time! (None of the other Crafty Moms wanted to model for me. Go figure…)

Are you coming to OFFF? I hope to see you there! I’ll be helping Lorajean of Knitted Wit set up her booth on Friday, and I’ll be around on Saturday and maybe Sunday, too. You can find my patterns and a new design (more on that tomorrow) in the Knitted Wit booth!

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Created in Oregon, Rockaway Beach Beanie/Cowl

My Grandmother’s Knitting: Launch Party!

Posted on September 19, 2011 | 10 comments

I recently posted a review of My Grandmother’s Knitting by Larissa Brown, and Friday night I attended the launch party for this book.

The event was held at Andersen Fiber Works, a new-to-me and fairly new shop in Gresham, Oregon. The space is lovely. Most of the shop is downstairs; I’ll get to that in a moment. In the upstairs loft, there is a great space for spin and knit-ins. On this night, there were all sorts of activities including book signings by designers from My Grandmother’s Knitting:

(Judy Becker, Kristin Spurklund, Leigh Radford, Emily Johnson, Chrissy Gardiner)

and karaoke!

(Stevanie Pico of Pico Accuardi Dyeworks with friends and family)

Downstairs there are lots of yarns and fibers that are from independent artists, including owner Jen Andersen who has been dyeing as Hanks in the Hood for the last five years. Here’s some of her fiber:

I saw lots of yarn and spinning fiber, including lots from Ms. Gusset and Dicentra. Check out this mondo ball of fiber from Dicentra.

And these fabulous felted hats from Attitude Hats.

This is Sarah Lajoie, the artist behind the hats.

Owners Tyler and Jen Andersen were the gracious hosts of the evening. Jen is modeling one of Sarah’s hats, and a coordinating necklace by Jennifer Fulks. The medallion is actually two alabaster bowls, one nested in the other. Gorgeous, as is Jen!

I saw a nice selection of Lantern Moon tools, baskets and bags in the shop, too. I love these, as you know, and see several that I own.

Larissa’s friend and neighbor Rondi prepared and hosted a buffet of treats both sweet and savory.

A fun night all around. Do you have a copy of My Grandmother’s Knitting yet? It’s a winner!

10 Comments

Posted in Knit

Swiftly winding away

Posted on September 13, 2011 | 15 comments

I’ve resisted buying a swift and ball winder for a long time. I usually have my yarn wound at my local yarn store, a skein at a time. (Fear of commitment? wouldn’t want to wind them all, in case they don’t cooperate with my vision for them.) But when my Aunt Rose visited this summer, she insisted on buying both of these for me. And I have to say, I’ve used them a lot this week!

Since CollegeDude2 is off to university on the other side of the country, I thought I’d use his room as a knitting studio. His futon bed has converted into a comfortable sofa, and his desk is now my desk, which doubles as a winding station. (There’s a lot more clearing out to do, but half of the room is now mine.)

Lorajean at Knitted Wit had a brainstorm for a project: She asked me to design a toddler vest to go in a kit with her yarn. Check out the cute colors! And the swift and winder turned them into this.

The first vest is done; here’s a sneak peek at the edging. Full reveal after I get some cute action shots!

So thanks to Aunt Rose for the great tools, to Lorajean for the opportunity to come up with something fun, and to CollegeDude2 for the use of his room! I’m getting a lot more done now that I have this cool corner office in the house. What’s inspiring you these days?

15 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

lace triangles

Posted on August 28, 2011 | 5 comments

I took at class at Twisted on Saturday, Designing Lace Triangle Shawls with Sivia Harding. Sivia is the queen of lace, and beads. I took a one hour wonder beading class with her at Sock Summit 2009. This class was six times better, because it was a 6 hour class! And there was some beading, too. We learned about basic triangle shawl construction, choosing a pattern, stitch dictionaries, how to chart our lace, swatching, transitioning between lace patterns, edgings, and beads. Whew! I came home inspired, and spent part of this afternoon working on a design.

Alas, it didn’t quite work out to be what I wanted, but I’m not done yet.

I also played with my camera the other morning; Franklin Habit’s class has inspired me to take more pictures. My camera is just a point & shoot Panasonic Lumix; it doesn’t have a very fast lens. I wanted to see if I could get it to play with depth of field. I’m still not quite sure how to make it happen with this camera. (I miss my film SLR…) I just kept playing with macro and zoom until I got these. I loved the way the sun was lighting the flowers of the dandelions, while the ground was still in shade. It looked like fairy lights, just magical.

Somehow weeds look so much better with a little bokeh!

Have you learned any new skills this summer? How are you using them?

5 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged lace triangle shawl, sivia harding

My Grandmother’s Knitting

Posted on August 25, 2011 | 12 comments

I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of this gorgeous book, My Grandmother’s Knitting by Larissa Brown, at Sock Summit.

The book explores the question, “Who taught you to knit?” with 17 designers, including Meg Swansen, Jared Flood, Kay Gardiner, and more. It also features 21 patterns, some by the interviewees, and some not. Not all the interviewed designers have patterns in the book, but all the patterns are quite lovely. I especially liked this hat by Teva Durham, described as “somewhere between a slouchy beret and a milkmaid’s bonnet.” (and hey, that’s Sally!)

And I love these ‘Olina Socks by Emily Johnson, the creator of the Family Trunk Project.

Judy Becker contributed the pattern for this simply beautiful Grandma’s Fan Dishcloth. Of course it begins with Judy’s Magic Cast-On!

I think every knitter of a certain age knit house slippers like these, shared by Wendy Bernard.

Wendy goes further to add her own embellished version.

The book is beautifully photographed, and an easy size to hold and read (oversized books are nice to look at but make me tired!). It’s a perfect tribute to those who taught us to knit. Who taught you to knit? My Aunt Rose taught me when I spent the summer with her family at age 14. She was just here in town to help celebrate my mom’s 75th birthday. Of course we went on a yarn crawl. She was surprised to find that I didn’t own a swift and ball winder, and insisted on buying both for me as a gift. Thanks, Aunt Rose!

I just went looking to find the things she knit for my kids when they were born.

I’m filled with nostalgia. We just dropped our youngest in Orlando, Florida for college. We’re empty nesters! I think this means I’ll have a lot more time for knitting…

12 Comments

Posted in book review, Knit

Tagged my grandmother's knitting

Red hot knitting

Posted on August 16, 2011 | 9 comments

Usually it’s all about the blues here. Blue is my favorite color, and a lot of my knitting is blue. But not right now. I’m currently in a red phase. The ruffle tank on the needles is red, my current sock design-in-progress (first sock weight yarn sock!) is a shade of pinky red, and I’m about to cast on Annis in red, too. What does this mean? Must be a reaction to our cooler than usual summer. No need to cool down with blues!

I finally sat down and knit the other swatch from my Designing with Japanese Stitch Dictionaries class. I don’t love it, but I’m pretty sure I did it correctly. It looks kind of like…underwear. One of the symbols on the chart was confusing (the slipped stitch), but this page was pretty helpful getting it figured out. Here’s the first swatch again; I still love it. There are four interesting new stitch maneuvers in this piece that I was very happy to learn.

One of my post-Sock Summit purchases has arrived! This is the most gorgeous book, and it makes liberal use of some of the stitch techniques we learned in Gayle Roehm’s aforementioned class. I’m really impressed by how clear the photos of the knit swatches are. This is the best so far of the three Japanese stitch dictionaries that I own.

Here are the other two, just for reference. A lot of the pictures in the last one are a bit overexposed, or maybe just flatly lit (no side light) so it’s hard to see what the swatch really looks like. But it’s a beautiful book, and still useful.

I’m really looking forward to incorporating some of these new-to-me stitches in future designs. I have several ideas cruising around in my mind, but I’m not ready to commit to any of them quite yet. I’ll finish the red projects and then settle into some lovely autumn design work.

Are you looking forward to fall? I’m not ready. Summer came late this year, and it’s a gorgeous August, not too hot, but blue skies and sunny. Are you knitting for summer or fall? I still have high hopes of wearing the red ruffle tank this month!

9 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged japanese stitch dictionaries

Fit to Flatter class

Posted on August 6, 2011 | 6 comments

As if I didn’t get enough knitting in with Sock Summit, on Monday I took Amy Herzog’s Fit to Flatter class at Twisted. The class was fantastic. We learned what looks good on us and why. We took measurements and photos(!) and had the opportunity to try on lots of sample sweaters and figure out how we would modify our knitting of them. I highly recommend this class if Amy comes to visit your town, too.

I want to knit these: Lucette (oh, the beads!), Ayana, February Fitted Pullover. All a little shorter than the samples, of course. Can someone order me a few more hours in each day?

It was great to meet Amy; I’ve been following her blog for years. I wish I had a picture, but we ran out of time. Sorry.

One thing that was highlighted in class: zero or negative ease is a knitter’s friend. If you knit a boxy sweater that’s bigger than you are, you’ll look boxy wearing it. Knits are very stretchy. If the garment is smaller than you, it will hug your curves. Knitting shaping into the garment is another way to get around the boxy look. My ruffle tank is a good example of what negative ease can do. It doesn’t have waist shaping, but it is slightly smaller than I am. (This picture is from last year.)

I’m currently knitting a second ruffle tank in deep red; it’s coming along swimmingly. I’m knitting it in the round this time, and I’m up to the armhole shaping. I’m looking forward to wearing it. Here it is chillin’ on the hammock.

What are you knitting? Will it fit?

6 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged amy herzog, fit to flatter

Sock Summit Sunday

Posted on August 3, 2011 | 11 comments

I arrived early before my morning class so I could see the sheep for the Fleece to Foot Challenge. It was before 9 a.m., but the sheep were already being prepped for shearing. Apparently belly wool is removed before the actual shearing because it’s messy.

I couldn’t stay for the shearing; I had a class, Designing with Japanese Stitch Dictionaries with Gayle Roehm. I learned several new stitch techniques, and also learned that I’ll be needing another book to help me decipher the charts in the stitch dictionaries I have, and the ones I’m planning to buy. Japanese knitting symbols are fairly standardized, so the new book will help a lot. (eta: Clear and Simple Knitting Symbols, ISBN 9784529024136) This is one of the swatches from class. It has lifted stitches, wrapped stitches, crocheted bobbles and more.

By the time I returned to the marketplace after class, the Fleece to Foot challenge was proceeding in earnest. Yarn was being carded, spun, plyed, knit. Here are the two teams from Portland: The PDX Puddlejumpers team:

And the Spin U team.

If you’d like a full report on the Fleece to Foot Challenge, you’ll find it here from our local newspaper.

Sock Summit was great, and now I have to process all the information I took in, and figure out what to do with it. I’m even knitting a sock, with sock yarn, and live to tell the tale. It’s only 56 stitches around; I have small feet! Skinny yarn on skinny needles is not so scary after all. These are Lantern Moon ebony size 1 dpns.

I was pretty restrained in my purchases; I still don’t really stash yarn! But there were a couple things I had to have. Another skein of Alpha B Luxe, but this time in red. My gray Zen Rain that I wore all weekend is made with this yarn; I love the drape that the silk adds. The other yarn is Penny Farthing Sock, color Fathom by Little Red Bicycle. The marine blues sucked me right in. This is a mega-skein, so it’s 500 yards/150 grams of merino/cashmere/nylon (80/10/10).

I also bought Intwined design software, and am really looking forward to playing with it. I’d been thinking about it for a while, but it really helped to see the demo at the show. Review later! And my first purchase, the little Cthulu Turkish spindle from Jenkins Woodworking.

Since I gave away Lady Baa-Baa and her unnamed replacement, I picked up another sheep. This time it’s brown. I think I’ll call him Lambert. We’ll see where in the world he ends up!